This invention relates generally to automatic directional control of a craft and particularly to automatic pilots for watercraft having a steering wheel apparatus connected to the steerage mechanism.
It is well known that the installation of an automatic pilot device to a given craft is often a difficult, time-consuming and expensive process. It can contribute a major expense over and above the cost of well-known auto pilot equipment. This becomes more evident in installing such devices aboard smaller crafts where space requirements are more stringent and the total cost of the equipment installed in the craft becomes a larger percentage of the total investment in the vessel to be steered by the automatic pilot.
The installation of an automatic pilot aboard a craft normally requires modification to the steering system of the craft and thus is normally accomplished by trained technicians with expertise in that field. The installation involves attaching a sprocket or gear to the existing steering system in order to provide a means of applying power from the automatic pilot servo mechanism to the steering system and thus to the rudder or other means of steering the craft. This process of installation also involves mounting and aligning a drive chain and building special mounting brackets to accommodate a given craft, thus accomplishing the purpose stated above.
Devices such as shown in the W. B. Hatch U.S. Pat. No. 3,138,133 show how complex interconnection mechanism have been used in the past to interconnect well-known auto pilot to a drive system. Devices such as shown in Edwin J. Pounder et al U.S. Pat. No. 4,170,953 also discloses the gear train drive system necessary to provide automatic steering to the spokes of a wheel-operated steering mechanism input signals from well-known automatic pilots.